


Into the Mountains

by silveryink



Series: Tales of Tomorrow [3]
Category: His Dark Materials (TV), His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Aromantic Lee Scoresby, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, HDM Spoilers, Mild Hurt/Comfort, The Amber Spyglass Spoilers, i do headcanon him as aroace but the aro part is only mentioned here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22052677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveryink/pseuds/silveryink
Summary: Sometimes, it's good to look at things from another perspective. One might just learn something new about themselves, if they do - even people as in tune with themselves as Lee.
Relationships: Lyra Belacqua & Lee Scoresby
Series: Tales of Tomorrow [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565455
Comments: 5
Kudos: 58





	Into the Mountains

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This story was originally meant to be a short scene in Just North of Oxford, but I thought a headcanon I had about Lee might fit with the direction in which it was going and deccided to make this a separate work. This goes right after Chapter 6 where Lyra and Lee visit the remains of Bolvangar.  
> Happy New Year (it's still a few hours away here) to everyone reading this!

To fight wasn’t something Lee had wanted to learn, but it came with the harsh environment his old lifestyle of flying about the Arctic. If he’d intended to survive, he had to fight. It did help that he had been professionally trained as he started out by protecting various people and their organisations from the oddly regular perils of sabotage and assassination. After the business at Navy Odense, he’d been incredibly grateful for this.

Somehow, among all that had happened, he hadn’t been badly affected by any skirmishes he’d been caught in over the years (aside from a few wounds every so often). This War, though, left lasting scars he could have gone without. Sure, it was tame in comparison to some of the survivors of other battles he’d seen, but he still could have gone without the occasional memory assaulting him as he slept. This was arguably worse than Seeing something; the latter was more of a nuisance than anything else.

If someone had asked Lee before he’d reached Trollesund what he imagined himself doing in a few years, he would have simply waved them away. He’d never have considered giving up flying, but when his balloon crashed on that fateful trip across worlds, he’d had no choice. Mostly because he’d been _dead_ for a while afterwards. At least his new job (more reliable an income than being an aeronaut) promised the same, once he got the hang of flying cargo airships (Oakley Street had already let him fly, but nobody needed to know that).

It had been years since _that_ had happened, but he still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he’d _died and come back to life_.

Perhaps that was why some of the dreams persisted, he mused one night, running his fingers across his mother’s old ring he now wore around his neck. He and Lyra had just returned from inspecting the abandoned Bolvangar site. His worry over visiting the place that separated children from their dæmons must have… leaked over into his mind. She’d told him after they returned to the inn all the details of what had happened. Lee had heard the story in bits and pieces before, but he held Lyra silently as he thought, not for the first time, of burning down the facility. When she’d finally gone to sleep, he and Hester had stayed up to talk about what to do with what they found at the site before he drifted off halfway through the conversation.

Yeah, that was probably why he’d dreamed of John Parry, his promise to Lee, both their deaths, and then… Seen?

“Hester, am I going crazy or what?”

“You’re crazy for not letting me cure your Sight,” she grumbled from his lap. He smiled faintly.

“It’s a damn useful trait, and you know it.”

She hummed. It was impossible for either of them, connected as they were (far beyond the human-dæmon bond) to be mad at each other. Any arguments they might have had were easily dispelled with logical thoughts right before they said anything out loud to each other. They’d found out it was easier that way early up North.

“What did you See?” she asked.

Lee shrugged. “It was a bit… fuzzy, this time. I couldn’t tell. Had somethin’ to do with John.”

Her ear twitched. “Oh?”

He shrugged, fiddling with the ring. “First, it was about the War. Y’know, before.”

“Best if we let it rest,” she said. “We never got to tell him off, huh? For breaking his promise?”

Lee frowned before remembering the shaman’s old promise to help Lyra find the knife. He’d indirectly kept his word, thanks to Will Parry, but Lee had given him an earful about it down in the world of the dead. Hester noticed his expression and her ears lowered slowly to her back.

“Hey, none of that,” Lee said softly, “I’m right here. And so are you.”

Hester’s ears twitched once, but she nodded and pressed closer to Lee. He remembered something John had told him, and smiled.

“Boy Scouts.”

“What’s that?” Hester asked absently.

“John mentioned Boy Scouts. He told me what that was, a bit.”

“Oh. I was thinking about… Lee, how’d he die?”

Lee sighed. “He turned down that witch, yeah?” Hester nodded. “Well, according to John, she was pretty vengeful after that and killed him. We saw her, before Lyra and Will came down. She apologized to John, said that she didn’t know he had a kid. Apparently she turned the knife on herself right after.”

“Damn. We got off lucky, then,” Hester said.

Lee was about to reply when Lyra stirred. “Dad?”

“Yeah, kid?” He let himself bask for a moment in the warm feeling of how she addressed him.

“You turned down a witch?”

He huffed a laugh, stretching out across the bed and swinging his legs over the side, careful not to dislodge Hester. On the bed across the room, Lyra imitated this position, with Pan perched across her shoulders.

“’Course you’d hear that.”

She stayed silent, looking at him expectantly.

“It isn’t a dramatic story,” he relented easily. He didn’t deny Lyra much, and he appreciated that she never asked him for much. Then again, having a proper parental role, inexperienced as he was, in her life must have been enough for her. His heart went out to her, even as his mind was quickly calling forth his memories from that day.

_Lee vaulted over the basket, lightly landing in the snow. He looked up to see some witches fly over them. He’d seen witches before, but never met one personally. This was to change today. His balloon was in a bit of a fix, but easy enough for him to repair. However, a single witch dropped down to speak to him. He smiled at her. “’Lo, ma’am,” he greeted._

_The witch dipped her head regally, watching him curiously as he went about repairing his balloon. “I have seen you around the place,” she said. “Who are you?”_

_“Lee Scoresby. Aeronaut for hire.”_

_“Lisaveta Virtanen,” she said. He tipped his hat and hopped back into his basket._

“But what did you _say_?” Lyra interrupted.

Lee didn’t chastise her for interrupting the story, because he too wasn’t sure what he’d done to anger the lady. “Honestly, I have no idea,” he said.

Lyra inched forward, looking as attentive as she had that day years ago when he’d patiently pointed out how his balloon worked, what each part did and how it did so. He chuckled.

“So. I speak with her for a while and she asks me-”

“Yeah, but why’d you say no?”

He shrugged. She got a knowing look in her eye, and he thought that it might be a bit amusing to let her guess at why for a while.

“Was it the same reason you told Ms. Wordsworth you were involved with someone else?” she asked shrewdly. He nodded, and she barreled on, “And Mr. Bailey.”

He frowned. “Mr. Bailey didn’t…”

“He did,” Lyra said firmly, and was already on her next theory before he could wonder how he’d missed being flirted at. He blinked at Hester before stopping Lyra’s tirade of guesses.

“Lyra,” he started, and paused. How was he to phrase this? “I’m not – I wasn’t interested. At all. Not with anyone.”

Lyra’s expression, looking less confused with this explanation, nodded silently.

“I’ve never felt anything like it,” he added with a shrug, leaning back and resting his weight against his arm. “Never thought about why. It didn’t matter, anyhow, ‘cause I only wanted to fly.”

Lyra nodded once more, as though this made perfect sense. Maybe it did. Lee hadn’t spared much thought towards it and therefore wasn’t bothered about it.

“You told Serafina Pekkala about a farm, and children-”

He snorted. “Yeah, I was deluding myself,” he told her. “Ain’t no life when I’m stuck to the ground. Flying’s in my blood, see – I can take a break, like the last few years, but it’s strange to _not_ fly.”

Lyra nodded. “I get it, Dad.”

“Right. Now, I’m all for kids – you’re sitting right in front of me – but I don’t…” he sighed.

Lyra understood, though. Will had spoken to her in great detail about his world, so she thought she knew what he was describing. “Will said something about that. People don’t feel the need to be with someone, romantically.”

He looked up gratefully. “Yeah, that’s it.”

She frowned. “He said there was a word for it,” she half-muttered.

Lee shrugged. “If it comes to you.”

Lyra hummed. “What happened to the witch?”

“Lisaveta?” She nodded. “Oh, she was furious. Thought I was playing games with her or somethin’. Can’t imagine the kind of men she must have met before me.”

_“Ma’am, I’m not trying to-”_

_“You dare scorn my attentions so callously,” the witch seethed. Lee held up his hands in surrender._

_“I’m bein’ honest,” he said carefully. “With all due respect, ma’am, I’m afraid I don’t-” he stopped when she glared at him._

_“You have a minute to explain, Mr. Scoresby,” she said coolly. He winced._

_“Uh. Ma’am, I don’t mean to offend you by rejecting you,” he said earnestly. “It’s just – I’ve never felt the need to be with someone else.”_

_She tilted her head, now more curious than offended. “With no one?”_

_Lee shook his head. “None at all,” he affirmed. “All my life, it’s been this way. I’m sorry if you thought…”_

_“No, it is I who must apologise,” she said. “I assumed you were trying to make a fool of me. There isn’t much a witch can be offended about, but dignity is cherished among all sentient beings.”_

_“I’d imagine,” he said with a tentative smile._

_She smiled back and raised her cloud-pine. “I look forward to seeing you again, Mr. Scoresby.”_

_Lee understood that she had set the misunderstanding aside and dipped his head in acknowledgement. She drew upon the winds and flew away, and Lee exhaled in relief._

_“Well, I’m never doing_ that _again,” he said to Hester._

Lyra snapped her fingers. “Aromantic!”

Lee blinked. “Sorry?”

“Will’s word. He said it was called aromantic.”

Lee nodded slowly, letting it sink in. It fit, in a way he hadn’t thought of. Lyra grinned at him triumphantly and he chuckled. “You want to talk about something else, Lyra? I can’t imagine this was the only thing on your mind.”

And any idea of sleep was forgotten, as they chatted happily until dawn.


End file.
